Male Infertility

Infertility is the inability to conceive after at least one year of unprotected intercourse. Since most people are able to conceive within this time, physicians recommend that couples unable to do so be assessed for fertility problems.

Some disorders become more difficult to treat the longer they persist without treatment.

(spermatogenesis) takes place in the ducts (seminiferous tubules) of the testes.

Cell division produces mature sperm cells (spermatozoa) that contain one-half of a man’s genetic code. Each spermatogenesis cycle consists of six stages and takes about 16 days to complete. Approximately five cycles, or 2 ½ months, are needed to produce one mature sperm. Energy-generating organelles (mitochondria) inside each sperm power its tail (flagellum) so that it can swim to the female egg once inside the vagina.

Sperm development is ultimately controlled by the endocrine (hormonal) system that comprises the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Because sperm development takes over 2 months, illness that was present during the first cycle may affect mature sperm, regardless of a man’s health at the time of examination.

According to the National Institutes of Health, male infertility is involved in approximately 40% of the 2.6 million infertile married couples in the United States. One-half of these men experience irreversible infertility and cannot father children, and a small number of these cases are caused by a treatable medical condition.

Medications to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) and digestive disease

Metabolic disorderssuch as hemochromatosis (affects how the body uses and stores iron)

Systemic disease (high fever, infection, kidney disease)

Testicular cancer

Varicocele

Occurs when impairment of the muscles or nerves in the bladder neck prohibit it from closing during ejaculation, allowing semen to flow backward into the bladder and causing infertility. It may result from bladder surgery, a congenital defect in the urethra or bladder, or disease that affects the nervous system. Diminished or “dry” ejaculation and cloudy urine after ejaculation are signs of this condition.

Resulting from injury, surgery, or infection can trigger an immune response in the testes that may damage sperm. Though their effects are not fully understood, antibodies can impair the ability of sperm cells to swim through cervical mucus or to penetrate a female egg.